MOSCOW, July 8, Oleg Bogatov. President of the Russian Fencing Federation (FFR) Ilgar Mammadov said that the athletes of the team are ready to compete at the Asian Games in 2023, but the issue will be resolved after receiving official information and developing an agreed position of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Ministry of Sports.
The Inside the Games portal on Saturday reported that up to 500 Russian and Belarusian athletes will perform at the Asian Summer Games, which will be held in Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8. July 8 in Bangkok hosts the 42nd General Assembly of the Olympic Committee of Asia (OCA). At the end of January, the OCA invited athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. In June, ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov announced that the organization had not received an invitation to participate in the Asian Games.
According to a source, athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete in a neutral status and will not qualify for medals. It is noted that participation in the Asian Games will help them qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris.
“I would like to wait for information on the Asian Games from official sources first,” Mammadov said. “But in any case, this is a vague and half-hearted step coming from unofficial media. After all, our strongest athletes are not allowed by the FIE (International Fencing Federation) to participate in international competitions — athletes from CSKA and Dynamo are simply cut off from sports life. They don't exist. If our delegation, by agreement of the Russian Olympic Committee and the Russian Ministry of Sports, goes to the Asian Games, then we, of course, will also participate in them. Because The guys will have at least some goal on the horizon.»
«And in terms of qualifications — in our sport it does not happen that you successfully performed at one competition and immediately went to the Olympics,» the head of the federation emphasized.
On March 28, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that international federations allow Russian and Belarusian athletes who did not support the SVO to participate in international competitions as neutral athletes, while proposing not to consider teams from Russia as participants in international competitions in team sports.